2: Of Madmares, and Mad Mares
Symphony Shattered
Chapter 2: Of Madmares and Mad Mares
After a bit more examination of the... you know I'll just call it my back seeing as it is fused there, Celestia sent me off to the Castle seamstress to get a coat made that would hide my back and still look relatively casual. The poor unicorn almost fainted when she saw my back though.
"Why hello Miss Philharmonicaa. The princess let me know you were-" Her eyes went wide as I turned to shut the door.
"I have a feeling I'm going to be getting that quite a bit now." I said with a sigh. Good thing I'm used to getting stared at thanks to Vinyl's pranks... switching my shampoo with Luna's... those stars to forever to wash out... I mentally grumbled. "In any case Celestia said you could help me. I need something to cover my back for obvious reasons, however it needs to be something casual."
Our eyes met and after a second we both said the same thing.
"Trenchcoat."
That broke the tension in the room causing us both to laugh. "Great minds think alike no?" She said with a chuckle. "Colors? This will be easy compared to Blueballs's usual requests." She gave a small eep. "Er, don't tell Blueblood I said that..."
"You needn't be worried, that colt needs a good lesson in how important he really is." I said with a chuckling. "And I think a dark grey, almost black for the main, perhaps some purple trimming or details?
"Hmm... I can work it, would you like your cutie mark on the back?"
"That's a wonderful idea... actually could you make a second one in white with... actually, first do you know who Vinyl Scratch is?"
"Dj Pon3? Yes I do."
"Well she's my roommate and I promised her i'd bring her something 'cool' back from Canterlot and I had a thought, woudl you be able to do one in white with blue spikes along the hem, cuffs and collar?"
"That would suit her perfectly, think she'd want her Cuite mark on the back?"
"I believe so." I said with a smirk. "As for mine, just black along the hem cuffs and collar and purple for the cutie mark please." I said.
"I'll toss in a pair of fedoras to match the outfits if you would like." She said as her magic got to work on various bolts of cloth around the room. "Although casual isn't exactly where we're going at this point anymore."
"Well, buck casual then." I said with a chuckle. "I live with Vinyl Scratch, every time we go anywhere together we're already the center of attention... more from her antics than anything else."
"I can only imagine." she said as the garments started to take form, a swarm of needles and thread flying from one set of shelves and getting to work on the fabric. "I have a friend who designed an outfit for her, she said it was a rather unique experience. Oh, and my name is Beau Modiste, pleased to meet you Miss Philharmonica."
"Please, call me Octavia." I said with a chuckle.
"Hmm... can you pass me that square of purple fabric over there? I think it may just be the right size for the cutie mark." Beau said flicking an ear at a table to my left, where sure enough there was a leftover piece of purple cloth that matched the color of my cutie mark. I gently picked it up with one of the metal arms.
"Just to warn you, I'm using the thing that's attached to my back to pass it to you, so don't be too surprised." I said as i passed it over. Her eyes widened when she saw it, but to her credit she didn't freak out.
"That's just bizarre." She said. "Well, since you appear to be somewhat dextrous with that thing can you hold the cloth flat for me?" She asked after a moment.
"Certainly." I said as the other three arms extended and opened the purple cloth. "To be honest I don't even know how I'm controlling them so easily... whatever they are they were... attached to me not two hours ago by a madmare. The guard is trying to catch her last I heard."
"Really? That sounds like it would be quite painful..." She said glancing at my back. "Looks that way too."
"It wasn't that bad actually, I just wish I had had a choice in the matter, but aside from that they are proving rather useful... Vinyl is going to have some sort of fit when she sees them though."
"That does seem right up that mare's alley from what I've heard." Beau said as she sliced the purple fabric with her magic, occasionally glancing at my flank to check that she was getting it right. "Do you have a photo of Vinyl on hand at all?" She asked as she took the treble-cleff shaped piece of cloth and started attaching it to my trenchcoat.
"Hmm... I think I do in my cello case. Let me check." I said as I placed the leftover cloth on the table I had gotten it from and trotted over to my Cello case at the entrance of the seamstress's workshop. I opened it and took out a recent photo of myself and vinyl standing in the loft we shared right after we finished unpacking. We had only moved there two weeks ago and it already felt like home compared to the small house we had shared in Canterlot. "Here we are." I said as I passed her the photograph.
"Thank you." she took the photo and started using the photo to reference Vinyl's mane coloration, as well as her cutie mark. "Oh, by the way, would you be able to refer a few ponies to me? I do take orders thanks to the Celestia and Luna barely ever wearing clothes, and to be honest I'm getting tired of doing orders for the nobles, they are just... boring of late. I left enough slack in the coat that you should be able to use those arms with it on." She said with a chuckle.
"I don't believe it, one gala and my suit is already ruined!" A high classed whiny stallion's voice came from the hallway as I pulled on the finished trenchcoat after retracting the arms.
"Here comes the royal pain..." I heard Beau mutter. I nodded and trotted over to my cello case and moved it out of the way before Blueblood entered the room. "He's going to be dissappointed if he wants another one of those coats, I am out of fabric for it, that and his behavior with that mare at the gala was just infuriating, at least she stood up to him."
"I remember that." I said smiling, despite myself as the idiot entered the room with some random mare.
"Seamstress! Drop what you're doing! I need a new suit jacket." He said.
"Sorry Prince you're going to have to come back next week." She replied, sounding quite irritated.
"That was not a request that was an order!" He said to her smugly, sounding every bit the stuck up prick that I knew him for.
"Two things: One, thanks to the other fifteen suit jackets you tore off yourself in disgust, I have none of that cloth left to work with, I used the last of it on a request for Miss Philharmonica here." She said, indicating the nearly finished white trenchcoat. "Second, even if I did have the fabric to make you another one I wouldn't seeing as I am NOT your slave." Her voice had a hint of restrained anger in it, and I decieded to help her out if the Prince used his favorite 'do what I want due to my family' line.
"Do you even know wh-" I cut him off.
"Yes, I think we both know who you are. You are an insufferable prick who thinks he is the only one who is important, simply because of his connections. You are hardly a gentlecolt, in fact, there is more class and grace in one of my tail hairs than your whole body." Blueblood looked dumbfounded while the mare he was with simply giggled at his expression. "In fact, I know of a few Manehattan beggars who I'd rather have as a gala date than you, in fact I'd rather go with Vinyl Scratch, at least she has a level of common decency. Go ahead, whine to 'auntie' about how some mare insulted your honor, I have my doubts she'll do anything about it seeing as how you caused such a scene at the gala." I smirked, as he gaped like a fish out of water before marching up to me and backhoofing me across the muzzle. Beau gasped and the other mare's eyes went wide as I fell to the floor from the unexpected blow.
"Know your place you serf." He spat at me as I tasted blood. "I am Prince Blueblood of the house of Celestia and I won't have some nopony talking to me like that.
Normally, I'd go to the guard and have them deal with him. Normally I'd have held my tongue before hoof. Today, I had woken up in a lab, and had metal arms fused to my back. The stress that I had been able to deal with before he hit me caused my anger to boil over as I stood back up from the tile floor.
"You just make a huge fucking mistake Bluebitch." I said, rising onto my rear hooves, adopting a fighting stance I had learned from Vinyl who had learned it from a Zebrecain soldier after a particularly nasty bar fight. Blueblood took a step back as i spat out some blood. "What? Too much of a little bitch to actually fight somepony who is ready for you?"
He snorted as he hoofed the ground, ready to charge at me. I recognized his stance as one the guard taught, it was a good technique, but it was meant to take on those with little training without killing them. Beau backed away from us and the other mare did the same.
"I'll have you know I was best of the noble class at the royal guard academy for hoof to hoof combat." He said.
"The rest of them must have been too busy kissing your ass to fight then." I retorted, causing him to snap.
He charged me full tilt, aiming for me with his horn as he fired a stun spell towards me. I leapt out of the way of the spell. Landing on one hindleg I dropped to my forelegs as well and swept my other hindleg out at his legs. The speed of the move surprised him and i succeeded in knocking him onto his face before I turned away from him. "You have ten seconds to get out of this room before I show you how a real pony fights." He dragged himself to his hooves, his muzzle bloody from hitting the tile floor and trotted out of the room.
"The other nobles will hear about this!" He growled at me as he left. "Mark my word, your career in Canterlot is finished. I'll have Auntie throw you in prison for that you ungrateful peasant."
"Just try. I have two witnesses and am not a hindrance to the royal treasury." I replied, my tone even and threatening. He 'hmmph'ed and trotted off.
"Octavia are you okay?" Beau asked once he was out of earshot.
"I'm fine, I've been in a few bar fights and a riot or two, I've had worse." I said. "Heck, my grandmother has a nastier backhoof than him."
"What?"
"She wasn't the nicest pony, but she kept Scratch and myself in line when we were young, quite the feat to be honest." I said with a chuckle as i ran my tongue over my teeth. None were broken or missing, i had simply cut my cheek on my teeth. "Believe it or not I used to be quite the troublemaker. I picked up cello from a friend, but during school Scratch and I were quite the rebellious duo. Thanks to my parents though I managed to retain my cultured side."
"You are full of surprises..." Beau muttered as she got back to work on the coat.
"Will you two be willing to help my case if he does sue?" I asked.
"Of course." Beau said.
"Of course I will." the other mare said. "I'm Sonata by the way, Francine Sonata." She said. "I'm a vocalist for Luna's midnight jazz club."
"Octavia Philharmonica, possibly former cellist Royal Canterlot Orchestra. We'll see how much flack Celestia can deflect for me, otherwise I may be looking for work." I said with a sigh. "Oh well, I got by on giving music lessons before, I should be able to now, plus vinyl said she could use another hoof with her music." I said with a smile.
"I'm curious, are you two in a relationship yet?" Beau asked.
"W-what!" I stammered, the question had come clear out of left field.
"I asked if you two were in a relationship. Same gender couples are more common than you'd think." She said with a chuckle.
"We are not." I said, calming down a little. "Although I wouldn't be surprised if we did end up together come to think of it." I said with a blush. "We've been friends forever and spent our whole lives together."
"Sounds like you two would make quite the pair." Francine said smiling.
"We would, wouldn't we..." I said with a chuckle, the other two joining in.
-=-=-=-=-
A/N: Sorry about spelling, but i have to go to bread now so i have no time to fix that.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
902 users online
579,466 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Beau said hand instead of hoof earlier, when she asked Octavia to hold the cloth for her.
Still loving it. Still wish the chapters were longer.
Awww... No Doc-Oct style beatdown.
I'll be waiting for Vynil to become CyClops, then we will have one badass fank-kicking crime fighting team!
Two things I want to say...
Take the time to do proofreading/spelling fixes etc. before you put it up. We won't mind the wait that much, and it shows that you care.
I like how you're pacing this! Some recovery, a little excitement, and some explanation of where she got her skills. I'm looking forward to seeing what this all builds up to.
While personally I think Blueblood is too much of a coward to fight anypony, it's good to see Octavia have a bit of a bite to her.
Jesus, I'm starting to say anypony instead of anyone now.
831482
I am going to get around to editing this sometime in the future, but in my defense it was past midnight when i posted this i think.
831723
Does this take place in the same universe as 'TVC'? Cause if it does, I can just imagine how Twi and Octy would be like!
831786
You know, i may just have to cross that over at some point.
831792
SWEETNESS!!!!!
(I'm Totally fucked up on Caramelicious)
Name doesn't lie, shit tastes like caramel!
831831
having a bob marley day then my friend?
e621.net/data/fc/c2/fcc2bb2071abd73d3c2259ca27be9101.png?1304351250
just remember what zecora said in stonershy.
831857
Was it 'Puff, puff, pass that shit'? Cause i would if I could, and its pretty nice too, had to have a lot because of my tolerance (according to my friends, it has something to do with my depression or something, but even when I started, after the stupid thing were you don't get high the first time, I was doin' dimebags of quality shit like it was nothing) but after that, its fuckin' awesome!
831908
well all I know is that when me and my bud's sit down to have a sesh everyone pitches, and everyone passes the peace pipe if you catch my drift.
875869
I usually go with a 'when I finish it' attitude. at the moment, i got nothing done on it. I'll try writing later today, i was just taking a break from it after I snafu'd a little with the latest chapter of vampony.
877255
If you want you can run it past me, while i'm not much of a proofreader i'll tell you if anything seems off.
Wow... I expected good work but this is great! Lots of potential! Love it.
The last update was in June... It's now the second week in July...
i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/004/006/y-u-no-guy.jpg Y U NO Update??
Cause I need
cdn.overclock.net/2/28/287d2b5d_1298305804533_MOAR_LOLZ-s450x516-143512-580.jpeg
918777
haven't had the muse to write much on this, i'll see though.
920060 No worries, I understand. I can't finish my story for the life of me either.
You introduce traits about Octavia that help explain her reaction in a situation just as the situation occurs, or following afterwards. "The metal tentacles on my back don't scare me because Vinyl has put my life in jeopardy on numerous occasions." "I can take on that fool Blueblood because I know a bit of zebra kung fu." These are plausible, and the actual writing is competent and comprehensible, but it comes out of nowhere. We learn about your version of Octavia at a rate meant for moving the plot along.
DOCTOR OCATVIA BLARHGH
I'm guessing the 'bread' instead of 'bed' in the author's note was a joke?
Hrmm...I'm really trying to like this story, but I find it difficult to connect to anybody, since we're moving at what seems like the speed of light with this story. Shame....this story has a lot of potential on idea alone.
Yes, DragonTurtle has the right of it, it's a bit like those old Batman serials "Fortunately, today I was packing my previously unmentioned Shark Repellent Spray". You should bring stuff that isn't meant to be a shocking surprise before it becomes plot relevant (and not rely on too many surprises).
For that matter, given she just got superpowers, does Octavia even need to know Kung Fu?
1061827 ya the kun Fu part could of been left out. could of simply had one of her metal arms react on instinct of seeing him about to hit her and her wishing she had taken up the lessons vinyl had learned about fighting but that's just me
2371099 It costs the following:
Here's how you get there:
(This is actually a legitimate recipe for bread - go ahead and try it!)